Eagles start fast, take Game 1 from Portsmouth

Steve Rogers Daily News staff writer

Friday

Mar 16, 2018 at 12:01 AMMar 16, 2018 at 12:30 AM

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. — Barrington High School senior Luke Rudman scored three goals against Portsmouth the first time the two boys hockey teams met in the regular season. And on Thursday night, in the opener of a best-of-three, Division II semifinal series, Rudman had another hat trick to help the top-seeded Barrington High School hockey team beat No. 4 Portsmouth 4-2 at the Portsmouth Abbey School.

Rudman led the league with 26 regular-season goals and he notched two of the Eagles' three first-period goals.

“I think it’s good that we hit the ice flying and got some quick ones,” Rudman said of the 3-0 lead. “We established ourselves as a presence. You can’t just walk all over us.”

Portsmouth aided Barrington’s offense by failing to clear the puck from its zone on multiple occasions.

“A couple of turnovers in our zone, three turnovers in that first period, and they were able to capitalize on it,” Portsmouth coach Bryan Kriner said. “They always come out hot. I tried to stress that all week. Unfortunately, I don’t know if, game time, the guys got a little bit nervous or what it was.

"It’s always tough to come back from three goals down, especially in the first period.”

The first goal came mideway through the first period. A Portsmouth defender gloved the puck to the ice but it went straight to Barrington’s Josh Roy. He skated into the slot alone and wristed a shot past Patriots goaltender Matt Nordhill.

Two minutes later, Rudman intercepted an attempted clearing pass and scored from almost the same spot as Roy.

“You can’t do that with us,” Barrington coach Kevin Croke said. “I have some guys that can put the puck in the net. They gave it right to Josh and he went down and scored. You let Luke curl off that wall and he’s dangerous.”

Rudman added a key goal with eight seconds left in the period when he snapped a wrist shot past Nordhill for a 3-0 lead.

“He can shoot. He’s a good player,” Kriner said. “He’s one of the top kids in the state and that’s exactly why. He gets over the blue line, has his head up and he can pick corners.”

The Patriots started playing the way they expected in the second period. It took just 31 seconds for Cam Mello to score and make it a 3-1 game.

Portsmouth’s aggressive play combined with Barrington’s suddenly tentative or undisciplined play led to some more chances for Portsmouth.

But it was Rudman who scored off a counterattack on a 2-on-1 break nine minutes into the period to give the Eagles a 4-1 lead.

“Once we get one or two goals it’s about the mentality after that,” Rudman said. “We have to keep ourselves up. We can’t slow down because we have a small lead. We have to keep going and keep trying no matter what the score is.”

A little over a minute after Rudman’s third goal, Portsmouth’s Nolan O’Brien was credited with a goal when the puck twice changed direction on its way past Barrington goalie Steve Amaral to make it 4-2. The Patriots had a 9-8 edge in shots in the period that ended with Barrington up 4-2.

Matt Hosey replaced Amaral in goal for the Eagles late in the second period. Hosey came up big when he stopped Niklas Pedersen on a breakaway late in the game. Each team had scoring chances and Nordhill, who finished with 26 saves, was impressive with a couple of stops when the Eagles circled the Portsmouth net. But neither team was able to score in the final 15 minutes as Barrington took Game 1.

“We were 1-1-1 in periods today — we won the first, lost the second and tied the third. Fortunately a big first period carried us through," Croke said. “We worked on breaking their trap all week and I think the first period we did a real good job. The second and third period, I think they put a little bit more pressure. We need to get a little bit more out of our forwards in our defensive zone and I think we’ll be OK.”

The two teams meet again tonight at 6 p.m., back at the Abbey, in the first game of a playoff doubleheader. Coventry and the Rogers/Middletown/ Rocky Hill co-op team will play at 7:30 p.m. in the first game of their semifinal series.

“The guys battled hard,” Kriner said. “We got two in the second period to make it 4-2 and then we had some opportunities, hit the post a couple of times and just missed a couple other times. But hockey is a game of inches and that’s why they give us the best of three. We can come back tomorrow and try and capitalize.”

Crosschecks: Rudman's first goal was credited to Matt Spears because a referee said Rudman's shot deflected off Spears' glove. But Barrington coaches and players said Rudman got the goal. ... Dominic Robidoux had two assists and Spears and Drew Sirmalis had one each for Barrington. ... Tim Jackson, Christian Schenck and John Cavanagh had assists for Portsmouth. ... Barrington now has beaten Portsmouth three times this season and outscored the Patriots 12-3.

Sports@NewportRI.com

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